Blessed are you, mother earth, in your fleeting loveliness, Which wakens our yearning for happiness that will last for ever In the land where, amid beauty that grows not old,

Really? Mother Earth?

All the earth is your promised bride awaiting her bridegroom

I thought only the Church was the bride.

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit enlightens the thoughts of artists, poets, and scientists.

So we’re back to paganism where every poet is a prophet? And I, naive, thinking the light of the saints was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. I see what they meant, but it’s very poorly worded.

http://www.goarch.org/chapel/liturgical_texts/akathist_creation